Dispatch service in Troy comes under scrutiny

Officials thought they were dealing with a technical glitch at first.

Troy residents reported a delay when they contacted 911. Calls to the local dispatch center had to be transferred to dispatchers next door in Libby.

Officials ultimately identified the reason for the lag, but it has raised a larger shortcoming in the county’s emergency services network.

Speaking before Troy City Council on Dec. 9, County Commissioner Mark Peck (D-1) explained that when a county resident who lives near Troy calls 911, they are connected to Troy Area Dispatch. While area dispatchers can send fire or emergency medical services, they cannot provide them with law enforcement. If a resident requires a peace officer, the Troy dispatcher has to transfer them to the dispatch center in Libby where they can be assisted by the Sheriff's Office.

“This all happens fairly quick but seconds mean everything,” said Peck.

For Kimberly Mole, a resident of Bull Lake, those extra seconds are critical. When she called 911 during an attempted break-in on her property, she reached the Troy Area Dispatch.

“I gave them all my information and when they found out what my address was they said ‘Oh you're in the county. We have to transfer you,” Mole recalled at the council meeting. “When you’re in an emergency, that’s the last thing you want to hear.”

After being transferred to the Libby dispatch center, Mole said she spent more precious time giving out her information again.

Not only does the current system cause a delay for the emergency caller, it can also put undue strain on the dispatcher. On a call requiring multiple emergency services, Peck said that dispatchers juggle transferring the call to Libby with alerting local EMS and fire responders.

Dispatchers also face the possibility that a county resident who calls the administrative line will need law enforcement support. Since dispatchers cannot transfer calls from this line, there’s little else they could do other than telling the caller to dial the number for the Libby dispatch center.

Having managed dispatchers in Flathead County, Peck said he understood how stressful the job could be even without these obstacles.

County officials have known about the issue for nearly a year. Peck said he had met with local officials eight to nine months ago to discuss problems in county emergency services.

“It boiled down to this call transfer,” he said. “We’ve got to fix that. In this day and age, it’s just rife with problems.”

To solve the call transfer issue, commissioners would need to coordinate with Troy councilors. The dispatch service was created by a joint county and city statute, meaning neither party wields authority to unilaterally address the problem.

Crystal Denton, Troy City Council President, said the transfer between Troy and Libby dispatches happens automatically after the responder in Troy pushes a button on their phone system. Throughout the transfer, the Troy dispatcher stays on the line, Denton said.

Mole reported having a different experience.

“There was no one on the phone with me,” she said. “All I heard was this ‘click’ and the sheriff's dispatch came on.”

Although Peck said he wasn’t sure how to solve the problem, he pointed out that Lincoln County is the only such jurisdiction in Montana to have three dispatch centers. In some regions of the state, Peck said officials are even consolidating emergency call services across county lines.

“I fully understand why the City of Troy doesn’t want to lose their dispatch. I fully understand why the sheriff doesn’t want to give it up,” said Peck. “So here we sit. And in the meantime, we’ve got citizens that are going through this process.”

Consolidating emergency communications is easier in other parts of the state, Peck admitted. In eastern Montana, for example, radio waves can travel further than out west since the land is less mountainous.

Topographic isolation already seems to have hindered the efficacy of local dispatch centers. A member of the McCormick Volunteer Fire Department told councilors that he did not receive dispatch toneouts at his home near Pine Creek.

“The chief’s wife calls my landline because Troy’s radio doesn't reach me,” he said. “I would never get anything out of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.”

Sandi Sullivan, a member of the Troy Area Dispatch Board, told Peck and councilors that she was disappointed not to have been invited to recent meetings held by local officials to discuss the call transfer issue.

Peck and Troy Mayor Dallas Carr maintained the meeting was part of ongoing discussions that dealt broadly with emergency services in the county. Troy Area Dispatch Board members had been present at earlier meetings on the topic, according to Peck. Carr apologized and told Sullivan that she and the rest of the board members would be invited to subsequent meetings.

While commending board members and Troy dispatchers for their efforts, Carr asked them to consider what they could do to ameliorate the transfer issue.

“You guys talk about it because that’s your profession,” he said. “Be honest and if that’s the way it is I’ll support you.”

Carr also asked Peck to consider what the county could do to address the problem.

Peck said that across the board emergency services have been stretched thin. While the county has a group of dedicated emergency medical technicians, Peck noted that many are aging and that recruitment has been ineffective.

Some responders serve in multiple departments, which can give the illusion that emergency services are better staffed than they are in reality. The county is also looking to eventually raise about $20 million for a law enforcement center.

“I don’t know how we continue to beat on these EMS volunteers without coming up with some type of funding relief,” said Peck. “This is an immediate issue but it piles into a bigger issue.”

County Commissioner Jerry Bennett (D-2) agreed that carefully allocating the county’s limited funds would be critical to addressing issues in the area’s emergency services. With the current lack of volunteers, Bennett said responders might have to look into paying staff. Were it to downsize to one dispatch center, he noted the county could save around half a million dollars a year.

Peck added that if the county were to consolidate its emergency call centers, it would still need qualified dispatchers.

“Nobody’s going to lose their job,” he said.

Sullivan asked councilors to remember the in-kind services provided by the center when considering the value of Troy Area Dispatch. Were the county to consolidate dispatch centers, Sullivan worried that the cost of services for the city would increase.

“The power company, the public service, those all get dispatched out of dispatch,” she said. “Pretty soon, you guys would want money to dispatch our police officers.”

To further discuss the transfer and dispatch center issue, Carr proposed creating a committee.

Along with local elected officials and sheriff’s office staff, Peck said he thought the group should consist primarily of representatives from Troy. He suggested that the Troy Area Dispatch Board could coordinate the process. Carr said he would sit on the committee and nominated Denton to serve alongside him.